A Song of The Heart
by RegalQuill
Summary: Music is usually for entertainment. What happens when music means something more...Regina spends her time in Storybrooke during the curse trying to figure that out.


_Goodnight my angel, time to close your eyes_  
 _And save these questions for another day_  
 _I think I know what you've been asking me_  
 _I think you know what I've been trying to say_  
 _I promised I would never leave you_  
 _Then you should always know_  
 _Wherever you may go, no matter where you are_  
 _I never will be far away_

 _\- Billy Joel_

 **2 years after the Dark Curse was cast**

The hot water cascaded over her body. While it might seem that life as a mayor in a town where time doesn't move would be a walk in the park, the truth was it was tedious. This, however, was one of her favorite things about this new world. Hot showers were a revelation. To be able to walk into a room, turn a knob and have steaming hot water available for a bath or shower. That was heaven. It was a ritual she took part in at least twice a day. In the morning she would climb out of bed and start her day with a hot shower. And when she came home she would fill the tub and soak with a refreshing glass of wine.

This morning was like every other. Regina Mills, Mayor of Storybrooke, was in the middle of her morning wake up routine when a curious thing happened. She began to hum. Not that there was anything wrong with humming, but a woman of her upbringing never took part in such peasant like behaviors. The tune was something that she had never heard before and it baffled her where she might have picked it up. As she continued getting ready for her day she slowly began to pick up a word here and a word there. Something about a star and twinkling.

The clothes of this realm were amazing. Although she didn't mind the outfits that she could conjure with her magic in the Enchanted Forest she was thankful that the clothes here were a bit more manageable. The slacks and button downs gave her a sense of power. She liked power. As she made her way into town she continued to hear bits a pieces of the song. She was so engrossed in catching some of the words that she failed to notice Mary Margret Blanchard. She crashed into the teacher and sent her files tumbling to the ground.

"Really, Miss Blanchard, do you ever watch where you're going?" She got a certain thrill when the pixie haired woman knelt before her to retrieve her scattered belongings.

"I'm sorry, Madam Mayor. I'll be more careful." The woman apologized even though the accident wasn't her fault.

"See that you do!" Regina side stepped the woman and went on her way to the town hall.

Once inside her office she sat down behind her desk and got lost in her paperwork. A knock at the door made her aware of the hours that had passed.

Her secretary entered the room and placed a small pile of paper work on the edge of her desk.

"Been watching PBS, Madam Mayor?"

"What's that, dear?"

"Oh, you've been humming _Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star_ , all morning."

"Is that what that is? How do you know that song?"

"I volunteer at the day care. They sing it all the time."

"It's been stuck in my head all morning. I guess I must have overheard it somewhere. Will that be all?" She looked expectantly at her secretary.

"Yes, Madam Mayor."

Regina heard the door click behind the woman when she left the office. Her mind wandered back to the song in her head.

Over the course of the next year songs flowed into Regina's life. She learned that most of them were nursery rhymes. _Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star_ turned into _The Itsy Bitsy Spider_ which became _Hickory, Dickory, Dock_. She grew accustom to hearing them every day at various times. Sometimes early in the morning when she was just waking up, sometimes in the middle of town council meetings, or on the rarer occasions in the middle of the night. She wouldn't admit it, but they became a kind of companion to her. Until one morning she woke up and there wasn't a song. Her mind was silent. At first she shook it off, but when no song came the rest of the day, suddenly it felt incredibly lonely.

The silence became too much and so, Regina found herself buying records and cassettes to fill the void the songs had left. The first ones she bought were children's music because that was what the songs in her mind were. She would sing along with _Wheels on the Bus_ or _Rock-A-Bye Baby_ , only in the privacy of her home, of course. At night before bed she felt compelled to sing _Goodnight, My Angel_.

Weeks turned into months turned into years without the songs that would pop into her head. There would sometimes be snippets of the music she herself had been listening too, but she could never be sure it wasn't just her mind entertaining itself.

In the eighth year of the curse she was at yet another town council meeting. She still didn't know why she bothered with them, it was always the same meeting. Nothing changes in a timeless town. She sighed as she listened to Albert Spencer, formerly King George, ramble on about allocating more money for the DA's office. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why, because Storybrooke had a zero percent crime rate. Just when she was about to cut the man's diatribe short a thumping beat suddenly blared in her head. She let out a loud gasp that drew the attention of the others in the room. She attempted to cover her outburst with a cough.

"I apologize Mr. Spencer, do continue?" The man nodded at her and jumped back into his speech.

Regina, however, was entirely focused on the lyrics that were traveling through her mind. Her face flamed red at the things this song insinuated. She tried to maintain her neutral facade, but she had never heard anything like what was going through her mind. The language was vulgar and the acts that were being casually sung about, while not unheard of to the Queen, were not something one made public. It was this day that she knew something else was at work because there was no way she had overheard that music in Storybrooke.

It was also the day that she made her first visit to the vault under her father's crypt. When she cast the curse that brought them here, she made sure to hide away anything that had even a remote connection to magic. Most of the things in this hidden room were harmless right now, but others, such as the wall of hearts her mother was so fond of, could be used for ulterior motives. Even in a world without magic.

That day, though, she was there for information. She scoured the books that lined the walls. She spent hours looking for any reference to music. It wasn't until she had nearly exhausted her collection that she came upon the exact information she was looking for. There in a book about soulmates she found the words that would change her life forever.

 _Sometimes soulmates manifest through music._

 _When one is singing a song, either aloud or in one's mind, the other will hear._

 _It does not matter how much distant there is between them._

 _They are connected by A Song of the Heart._

Regina slammed the book shut. Her mind raced with the implications of those few sentences. She thought about the songs that she had heard so far. Nursery Rhymes and one vulgar anthem. She wondered if her soulmate, if that's what this is, had a child. It would seem odd that those song would just stop. Her heart fell when she considered that they might have lost their child. In the end she decided she was getting ahead of herself. She came up with a plan. Since the connection was very much like a two way radio, she would send more appropriate music in the other direction.

Mind made up, she marched from the vault and back home. Since it was too late to head to the record store she made due with listening to some classical records. As she slipped under the covers she silently sang _Goodnight, My Angel_.

Years passed in a tit for tat of music one-up-man ship. Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Eminem raced down the connection to Regina and she in turn sent Norah Jones, Etta James, and The Beatles toward the person at the other end. She even suffered through a God awful _Macarena_ stage. Sometimes strange things happened, she felt the emotions behind the music. She could tell when this person was happy or sad or even angry based on the tone of the songs they sang.

Then it happened, seventeen years after the curse was cast, the music in her head became full of songs about love and want and need. She heard _I will Always Love You_ , _I Don't Want to Miss a Thing_ and by the time _I'll Make Love to You_ hit her mind one night she was ready to throw up. Regina stopped sending songs to the person on the other end. She knew she shouldn't, but she felt a streak of jealousy toward whoever these songs are about. The person she shared this connection with was suppose to be hers.

One day the love songs stopped. In fact all of the songs stopped, save one. Late at night, every night, _Goodnight, My Angel_ sang Regina to sleep. She didn't know why, but the song stirred something in her. She realized that she wanted to share her life with someone, but not just any someone. A child. Hearing that song come through every night for the last 8 months brought her dreams of motherhood to the front of her mind. With her decision made she marched into Mr. Gold's store and requested his help with an adoption.

Two month later the house was filled with a new noise. The wails of her son, Henry. They had a bit of a rough start, and she was ashamed to say she almost took him back, but on a whim she began to sing to him. _Goodnight, My Angel_ soothed him and his cries became less. Things got better after that. The songs changed from her end. Now the connection was filled once more with _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_ and _The Itsy Bitsy Spider_. After she laid a six month old Henry down to sleep she realized that she had not heard any music from her connection since before she got her little boy. It worried her and she hummed I'll Stand by You. She didn't know why, it just seemed like the appropriate song to choose.

After that the songs from the other side changed, too. The loud angry music from years past disappeared. In its place were songs of hurt, and loss. A subdued nature crept into the music they sang. Regina tried to lift their spirits by sending songs like _Bohemian Rhapsody_ , or the odd Weird Al song. Needless to say Regina's knowledge of music had grown greatly over the 18 years she had been in this land.

Time passed and technology changed. She discovered a greater library of music from the internet. Sometimes it felt like she was having a never ending conversation with the person on the other end of this crazy connection. She even found herself laughing out loud at some of the songs. _Bad Boys_ seemed to be a personal favorite of who ever this was. It came down the line with great vigor every few weeks.

As much as she loved the knowledge she gained via the internet, she wished she could curse the thing that fateful day. It had been 28 years since she cast the curse. Henry was 10 years old. A smart, kind, beautiful boy, but also an incredibly stubborn child. When he went missing, she was beyond terrified. Twelve hours later a hideous yellow car pulled up to her driveway. Her little prince lead a woman to her door. Henry announced that this woman was his real mother. When she looked up all she heard was _Kiss The Girl_ from that annoying Little Mermaid movie Henry made her watch once. She knew that wasn't from her end.

Emma Swan. In the year she had been in town Regina's world had turned upside down. And the music had been interesting to say the least. Quite often she heard a _Royal Procession March_ at random times when she walked around Storybrooke. On rarer occasions the _Death March_ raced across her mind when she entered the Sheriff's station. Then there was a broken curse and angry words of he's mine son, no he's mine and the music once again became angry and harsh. Regina didn't even try to send anything good back, because quite frankly she felt the same way, so she listened to the other person's anguish and wallowed with them.

Neverland changed everything. They were searching for their son. Somewhere between Storybrooke and the Island of Neverland he had changed from yours or mine to ours. They camped in that horrible place and Emma was no where to be seen. Regina found her at the outlook they came upon earlier that day. The Sheriff's soft voice carried across the wind, a song Regina knew by heart.

" _Goodnight, My Angel_ " Regina whispered.

Emma turned her head and smiled sadly at her.

"I sang that song to him every night while I was pregnant. I don't even remember where I learned it. I've always heard it at night when I was falling asleep. Ever since I was little." Emma shrugged and looked back toward the Dark Jungle.

Regina was frozen in place. It couldn't possibly be.

"Emma, sing a song in your head and don't tell me what is." The blonde looked at her like she had grown a second head.

"Regina, is now really the time to play party games?"

"Please just do it, Miss Swan." Regina watched as the sheriff pondered for a moment then looked her directly in her eyes.

The song came through loud and clear, it was the same one she heard the first night she met the blonde. She took a leap of faith and crossed the distance between them in two semi-confidant strides. Her fingers curled into the woman's black tank top and pulled her closer. Their lips crashed together there in the jungle and the resulting magic rippled across the entire Island. When Regina pulled back she was met by wide green eyes.

"What is your fascination with the Little Mermaid, Miss Swan? Should I be worried?"

"Wha...I...Yo..." Regina smirked as she watched the woman struggle to compose herself. Eventually a large grin spread across the blonde's face.

"I have no idea what the hell just happened, but I've wanted to do that from the very moment I saw you." Regina laughed at Emma's confession.

"We have a long talk in our future, dear, but first we need to rescue our son." She held her hand out to the sheriff.

Emma laced their fingers together and they marched back to camp, ready to face whatever Pan has in store for them. Together.


End file.
